World: Assessing the Bombing

FROM the very outset of the U.S.-North Vietnamese negotiations in Paris four months ago, the main obstacle to progress has been the issue of the continued bombing of part of North Viet Nam. Hanoi's representatives have adamantly clung to their long-held demand that the U.S. must stop bombing their territory before anything else can be discussed. The U.S. has persistently and unsuccessfully asked for assurances that Hanoi will reciprocate with some kind of de-escalation of its own once the bombing is stopped. No such assurances have been forthcoming. The result is that the talks have so far got nowhere and U.S....